Cappuccino Crème Brûlée

This is a great dinner-party dessert that can be made well in advance and chilled in the fridge until you need it.

It relies on using great coffee, so if you don’t have an espresso maker at home, buy it ready-made from a local coffee shop. The milk foam is a tricky one – and I appreciate not everyone has a cream-whipping siphon at home – so as an alternative you can use lightly whipped cream.

For how many?Serves 6

Ingredients

9egg yolks

50mlcold espresso coffee

75gcaster sugar

450mldouble cream

Milk foam:

5gleaf gelatine

200mlmilk

20gcaster sugar

To serve:

icing sugar, for sprinkling

1bar dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

choc chip cookies

Instructions

1. Put the egg yolks, espresso and sugar into a bowl and mix together well with a wooden spoon.

2. Bring the cream to the boil in a saucepan over a high heat. Pour the cream over the espresso mix and stir well. Pass this mix through a fine sieve and pour into a jug.

3. Pour the mix into the coffee cups, filling them three-quarters full. Place the cups in the tray in the oven and cook for 40 minutes. Test them by shaking the tray gently – the cream should be nearly set with a slight wobble. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour until firm.

4. Meanwhile, make the milk foam. Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Bring the milk and sugar to the boil in a pan. Lift out and squeeze the leaves, then add them to the milk and stir until dissolved. Pour the milk into a siphon canister (the same contraption used to whip cream in high-street coffee shops), screw the lid on and place the canister in the fridge. Leave for an hour to allow the gelatine to set. When you are ready to serve, remove the chilled creams from

5. When you are ready to serve, remove the chilled creams the fridge and sprinkle the tops with icing sugar. Using a blowtorch or a hot grill, burn the sugar evenly until dark brown. Allow to cool for 2 minutes.

6. Now check that the lid of the siphon canister is screwed on tightly, charge it with 2 gas cartridges and shake well. Gently squeeze the trigger to form a small ball of foam over the brûlées. Grate chocolate over the foam and serve straight away, with cookies.